In Movies often require trickery to create the desired effect in a scene. In the case of The Hobbit, there was a problem with Gandalf, for which a wizard from another magical realm was used for assistance.
What was the problem? During the filming of The Hobbit, the team around director and Middle-earth mastermind Peter Jackson faced a problem, as is not unusual on a set.
In one scene, Galadriel actress Cate Blanchett had to lift the lifeless body of Gandalf. This refers to the sequence in the fortress of Dol Guldur in the third part of the series, where Gandalf is freed from his prison. The wizard was once again played by Ian McKellen, who was, however, much too heavy to be lifted and carried around by Cate Blanchett.
Moreover, the movement was supposed to appear graceful and effortless, after all, Galadriel is a powerful elf. To solve the problem, the film crew resorted to an ancient trick and brought a wizard from Harry Potter into play.
Swap Human for Dummy
How was the problem solved? Instead of the real Ian McKellen, a dummy, which was supposed to look very similar to him, was used. But not only that: On set, it became clear that the Gandalf replacement bore a striking resemblance to Dumbledore from Harry Potter.
It’s not particularly hard: In the making-of material for the film, of which you can see a snippet on YouTube, Ian McKellen explains that he and Dumbledore actor Michael Gambon are often confused. McKellen even almost played in Harry Potter.
Especially in costume and with the long, gray beard, the two look remarkably similar. On the set of The Hobbit, several people immediately noticed that the dummy even looked more like Dumbledore.
This went so far that the dummy in the shooting schedule, where everything important for the workday is noted, was named “Gandalf Dummy (Michael Gambon)”. “Dummy” stands for “placeholder” in this case.
The filmmakers stated that the fake Dumbledore played a bigger role in the scene than Ian McKellen and therefore naturally had to be named in the shooting schedule.
Michael Gambon, who passed away in 2023, would be happy about appearing in the Hobbit films at least in this way – Ian McKellen thinks in the making-of.
Although Dumbledore doesn’t really play a role in the world of Middle-earth, this story is an amusing anecdote that connects the two wizards. On MeinMMO, we posed a question that probably burns many fantasy fans’ minds and came to a conclusion: In a fight between Gandalf and Dumbledore, there would be a clear winner
